William
Saunders
Esq
Born about in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England
Ancestors 
Son of William Saunders
and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of
Jane (Spencer) Cope
— married
1481 (to 29 Jan 1494) in England
Descendants 
Father of
Joan (Saunders) Lee and Alice (Saunders) Cooke
Died before
before about age 44
in England
Profile last modified
| Created 27 Sep 2010
This page has been accessed 6,399 times.
Biography
William was the son of William Saunders and his wife Alice.[1] He was probably born around the period 1450 to 1455 if as is likely his father was born in about 1430.
William was named as executor in his father's 1478 will.[2]
William married Jane Spencer, daughter of John Spencer of Hodnell, Warwickshire.[3] They had the following children all named in his will:[4][5]
On 22 November 1492 William confirmed and ratified his will, and made additional provision for a child "in his wyfes wombe".[5]
William was a merchant of Banbury, Oxfordshire.[4]
William's will was dated 17 October 1492[5] and probated on 29 January 1494. His executors were his wife Johanna/Joan and her father John Spencer the elder of "Hodenhill" (Hodnell, Warwickshire). He requested burial near his father in the parish church of Banbury, Oxfordshire.[4][5] There is a full transcript of the will on the Oxford Shakespeare website here.
Sources
- ↑ Hampshire Record Office - Collection 48043 Cope of Bramshill; Ref No 43M48/54; Title: Contemporary copy of will of William Saunders, sen, of Banbury, Oxon, merchant Date: 24 Aug 1478
- ↑ Image of will, Anglo-American Legal Tradition website, accessed 17 October 2021
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Douglas Richardson. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham, 2nd edition (Salt Lake City: the author, 2011), Vol. IV, p. 144, SUDELEY 11
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 The National Archives, ref. PROB 11/10/83, Will of William Saunders, Merchant of Banbury, Oxfordshire, catalogue entry
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Abstract of will, web, accessed 17 October 2021
- G2G discussion initiated on 5 January 2021, 'Comments on William Saunders Esq'
- Marlyn_Lewis: caution - some of the sources given are unreliable and they appear to have been used for some of the information in William's entry
- Stott, Clifford L., Ancestry of Agnes Spencer, Wife of Thomas Higginson of Berkeswell, Warwickshire, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register (NEHGS, Boston, Mass., 2020) Vol. 174, Page 211.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Anonymous Baker and Vance Mead for supplying information and sources for this profile.
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- Comments on William Saunders Esq Jan 5, 2021.
Rejected matches › William Saunders (1480-)
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S > Saunders > William Saunders Esq
Categories: Banbury, Oxfordshire
• The ‘suggested’ father, William Saunders, has a year of birth of about 1450 and an estimated year of marriage of 1481. • The Will dated 1492 of William, the ‘suggested’ father, makes no mention of a daughter Joan – he specifically states that his eldest daughter, Anne, is under lawful age – although at this time Joan has married Richard Lee and is the mother of at least three children Elizabeth Lee (born after 1475); Roger Lee (born about 1479) and Benedict Lee (born about 1490). • The Will of William Saunders wife – Joan Cope formerly Saunders nee Spencer – makes no mention of either a deceased daughter Jane/Joan Clarke or any Lee or Clarke grandchildren.
Set against these primary sources, the three Visitations – Northamptonshire, Essex and Hampshire – carry conflicting and, I would suggest, incorrect information regarding Joan’s supposed family and I would therefore suggest that Joan be removed as • A daughter of William Saunders • A sister of Alice Cooke nee Saunders
William Saunders-92 of Banbury, merchant, made his Will on 17 October 1492, added a memorandum on 22 November 1493 and probate was granted on 29 January 1493/4. In his Will he named – his wife Johanne (she was also the executrix); daughters Anne (eldest), Isabel, Joyce and Alice plus the unborn child mentioned in the memorandum dated 22 November 1493; his father-in-law John Spencer the elder of Hodenhill. (Source: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D980919) In his Will he also requested that he be “buried within the parish church of Our Lady in Banbury aforesaid, that is to say, in the Trinity close near unto the burying place thereof of William Saunders my father”.
His father, William Saunders, died in 1478 and his Will is available from the Hampshire Record Office - Collection 48043 Cope of Bramshill; Ref No 43M48/54; Title: Contemporary copy of will of William Saunders, sen, of Banbury, Oxon, merchant Date: 24 Aug 1478 Description: Property bequeathed includes a house with shop outside the Westgate, Banbury; lands in Fenny Compton [Warks]; a house 'super Barkehyl', and another house in the High Street, Banbury; lands at Grimsbury Magna and Grimsbury Parva [Oxon], called Spytull; 4 houses together in Le Parsons Lane, Banbury; a house in the High Street called Shepemarket; a house in Neithrop, Oxon. Some of the lands left to wife Alice for life, with reversions to sons Richard and William. Lands, etc., left to William and Richard, with reversion upon failure of heirs to the other, and on failure of heirs of them both, to be sold.
“The wealth of a number of large-scale Banbury traders in the mid 15th century came from wool. William Saunders the elder (d. 1478) and younger (d. 1493) were each called merchant in their wills, but the father was described elsewhere as a woolman, and significantly the son married a daughter of John Spencer of Hodnell (Warws.), the founder of a great sheep-farming family of south Warwickshire. (fn. 265) The Saunders family had trading connexions with London: in 1460–5 William Saunders the elder was attempting to recover 100 marks' debt from a London grocer who had brought actions against him in the Poultry Counter, and in 1483 his son and executor, Richard, granted quittance of all debts owed them by Gerard Caniziani, merchant of Florence and mercer of London, and his wife.” Source: www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol10/pp49-71
edited by Anonymous Baker
If anyone spots any typos etc in what I have done, please correct them or message me. Thanks.
edited by Michael Cayley
Named in his Will are - Wife Johanne (also executrix) daughters Anne (eldest), Isabel, Joyce and Alice plus unborn child mentioned in memo dated 22 Nov 1493 father-in-law John Spencer the elder of Hodenhill Source: Will of William Saunders, Merchant of Banbury, Oxfordshire, proved 29 January 1494, PROB 11/10/83, National Archives
If William was born in 1461, he can not have had a daughter, Ann, born 1463.